Here at University Communications, we’re constantly researching and outputting content that informs and entertains several of UConn’s communities. However, anyone who works in digital media can tell you that competing for eyeballs can be one of the toughest obstacles despite how great your content is. Drawing attention to your content requires vivid visuals, and one of the best platforms to place it is on is Instagram. But how do you make your post or story standout among all the dog and food pictures in your audience’s feed? You have to create an engaging visual theme.
As the in-house graphic designer for the Social Media Content Production team, I utilize Envato Elements. Envato is an online platform that offers a number of products and services for digital creators: stock footage, plug-ins, courses, and even a network for creatives to connect over projects. Envato Elements specifically are packages of templates, graphics, photos, and fonts that can be accessed and downloaded for a monthly subscription.
The advantage of using these packages are that it allows for visual consistency, but it also allows for flexibility in customization – meaning we’re able to adapt these elements to UConn brand standards. We currently have four templates that we use for three types of Instagram Stories including UConn Alerts, which is strictly reserved for emergencies and warnings; Instagram Takeovers for when students are permitted to handle our Instagram account for a period of time; and the weekly UConn News Stories.
The UConn News Stories are posted almost every Friday morning, so students are able to view the content going into Saturday of that weekend. Typically, three news stories are posted, which include an image, and a small blurb. Not only do the templates vary the visual content, they are each tailored for stories whose associated photos are either horizontal or vertical. The templates are animated and slowly moving so the viewer’s attention will be caught before they swipe to the next story.
Envato is a powerful resource for us, but it is important to remember the purpose of your visuals. It should be attention-drawing and not distracting. Design elements, such as color and spacing, should still be taken into consideration as well as adapting it to your own brand in a way that makes it look familiar on first swipe.